Physics 6011, Spring 2015, Homework 11, Version 1

Due: Thursday, March 26, 10pm.

Important note: solutions for some or all of the problems in this assignment can be
found in various sources, including the class textbooks. It is of course reasonable and
encouraged to read other portions of the class textbooks (or other books if you so
desire), to discuss with classmates, or to ask questions to the instructor. However,
please resist the temptation to read (or copy) the solutions to any of the problems,
and try your best to solve the problems by your own effort. In some cases, however,
you may be asked to compare your results with the results shown in the textbook;
in that case, make sure you only look at the textbook results after you have written
your own solution.
0. Time spent (5 pts.)
At the top of the first page of your solution, please leave 5 lines of space for the grades (and
any general comments) to be written.
Just after that, please write a table containing the following columns. Each column should
report only one time. In all cases, the times reported should refer to work done after the
deadline for the previous homework. Columns: i) One column for the total time spent on
reading assignments ii) One column for the total time spent reading/studying in preparation
to work on the homework iii) One column per problem containing the time spent working
on that problem (please answer individually for each problem), iv) One column for the total
time spent on the course (in hours), including everything you did for the course except the
3 hours of lectures and the discussion hour.
1. Oscillation modes and normal mode density
In this problem, we use the density of normal modes g() discussed in lectures. As a
reminder, g() d is the number of modes i with frequencies i satisfying i < + d.
(a) This question is answered in full in Sec. 7.3 of the textbook. Dont look at the answer
until you have written your own solution in full.
In the last two parts of the previous homework assignment, you determined the energy
hEi(T, V, N ) and the heat capacity C(T, V, N ) for the case when g() = V C r1 , and
you determined g() for electromagnetic waves in a rectangular 3D cavity of volume V .
Use those results, together with the Planck distribution, to obtain the following properties of the electromagnetic field in a cavity of volume V , at temperature T (blackbody
radiation): i) the energy density per unit volume u()d associated with a frequency
interval [, + d), ii) the total energy density E/V for the cavity, iii) the heat capacity, and iv) the pressure of the radiation (Hint: compute the Helmholtz free energy and
use that = 0 for photons.)
After writing your solution, compare your results with those in the textbook.
(b) Consider a crystalline solid in d dimensions containing N atoms. Assume that all
vibrational normal modes are plane waves that have frequencies given by r (~k) =

cs |~k|, r = 1, , d (acoustic modes), where cs > 0 is the speed of sound, and that there
is a total of N d normal modes. Show that these assumptions lead to the Debye model
of the next item.
(c) Debye model
Assume that the low frequency modes of a crystalline lattice are simple plane waves so
d
that a good approximation for the density of vibrational modes is g() (N d2 /D
) d1
for 0 D and g() = 0 outside that interval. The frequency D is called the
Debye frequency. Determine the thermodynamic behavior of this model, i.e. find the
number hN i, the energy hEi, and the heat capacity C(T, N ). At some point you will
find an integral that is not easy to solve explicitly. To go beyond this, focus on the
heat capacity C(T, N ). Define a characteristic temperature D , obtain C(T, N ) in the
low temperature (T  D ) and high temperature (T  D ) limits, and sketch it for all
temperatures.
(d) Do the results in Section 7.3 for the blackbody radiation correspond to the high temperature limit of the Debye model? or to the low temperature limit of the Debye model?
or neither? Explain why this happens (Hint: start by comparing the density of modes
g() for blackbody radiation in a cavity and for the Debye model.)
2. Noninteracting Fermions
Consider a system of noninteracting fermions such that there are V D()d = g()d single
particle states with energies i in the interval  i <  + d. For this problem, the only
results about ideal Fermi systems that you should use, are Eqs. (1) and (2) from Sec. 8.1 in
the textbook, and the definition of Fermi energy F given in class.
(a) By using the above definition of D(), convert the rhs of Eqs. (1) and (2) in Sec. 8.1 of
the textbook into integrals over the single particle energy .
(b) Starting from the formulas obtained before, write a formula for the pressure of a system
of noninteracting fermions, in term of an integral containing the density of states D()
and the Fermi function f () = 1/(exp(( ) + 1).
(c) By using the expressions obtained before, show that for a system of free fermions of
spin 1/2 in 3 dimensions at any temperature, hEi = 32 pV .
(d) By using the expressions obtained before, write the pressure at T = 0 for a system of
free fermions of mass m in 3 dimensions, in terms of m, h
and the Fermi energy F .
3. Bose-Einstein condensation, part I (based on Prob. 7.14 in the textbook)
Consider an n-dimensional gas of ideal bosons of mass m with spin S = 0, whose singleparticle energy spectrum is given by  ps , where s is some positive number. Assume that
the system is in a hypercubic box of side L, define V = Ln as the generalization of the
volume to dimension n, and use periodic boundary conditions.
(a) Compute the (intensive) density of states D() g()/V .

(b) Find generalizations to the case of general n and s of Eqs. (5), (6), (7), and (8) in
Sec. 7.1 of the textbook. In the integrals that you write, make sure that the power
of the variable of integration (which is 1/2 in the case of the original equations in the
textbook) is written explicitly in your expression.
(c) Save a copy of your work for next week. In the next assignment, you will be asked to
continue working on this problem (see below).
4. Preview of a problem that will be in homework assignment 12: Bose-Einstein condensation,
part II
You are encouraged to start working on this problem, but dont turn it in yet.
Consider an n-dimensional gas of ideal bosons of mass m with spin S = 0, whose singleparticle energy spectrum is given by  ps , where s is some positive number. Assume that
the system is in a hypercubic box of side L, define V = Ln as the generalization of the
volume to dimension n, and use periodic boundary conditions.
Discuss the onset of Bose-Einstein condensation in this system, especially its dependence on
the numbers n and s. Find generalizations to the case of general n and s of Eqs. (5), (6),
(7) (8), (11), (12), (16), (23), (24) in Sec. 7.1 of the textbook. (In some cases, the equation
will be trivial, for example you may find Tc = 0). Study the thermodynamic behavior of this
system and show that,
P =

sU
,
nV

CV (T ) =

n
N k,
s

CP (T ) = (

n
+ 1)N k.
s

Consider the cases when there is a Bose-Einstein condensation with Tc > 0 and write the
equation for the particle density,
hN i
1 z
1
=
+ n g(z),
V
V 1 z T
where g(z) is a function of the fugacity that you need to determine. Multiply both sides of
this equation by nT , and show how to solve the resulting equation graphically, by plotting
the lhs, the second term in the rhs, and the sum of the two terms in the rhs as functions
of at fixed . The point where the horizontal line representing the lhs crosses the curve
representing the sum of the two terms in the rhs gives the solution for the equation. By
drawing three different horizontal lines at appropriate places in the same plot, show how to
graphically solve the equation in the following three cases: i) T > Tc , ii) T = Tc , and iii)
T < Tc . Sketch the corresponding diagram for a generic case where there is no Bose-Einstein
condensation, and explain how one can see in the diagram that the transition is absent.